Ray, the glass explorer

[oscar]

I was driving to work, from Kitchener to Toronto, on a beautiful Friday morning around 7am, about to pass what I thought was an inoffensive truck on the 401, when a rock sprung from one the boots of the aforementioned truck, and hit the windshield just left of center about two inches from the top. After hearing the crack, and spotting the radiant multi-ray star about 4 inches in diameter, I proceeded to yell the economic yet descriptive word F**K from the top of my lungs, but to my disbelief, the star was still there after the outburst. When I arrived at work, I could sense that one of the rays wanted to leave a bigger impression. A few hours later, I returned to the car to drive off for lunch, and noticed Ray had started to shine, about another inch due west. Ray aborted the reconnaissance mission for a few days, but when he sensed there was no danger to proceed, he resumed west-bound, at a slow but steady pace. About one week later, Ray made a subtle observation; he realized that making a gradual left turn would only slightly obstruct the vision of the opponent, so he traced a beautiful wide left turn. Rules of the road predict that after a turn there is a straight. Ray did not disappoint; he headed just right of south. At this point, Ray could see the border in the distance, and knew he could make a dash to the finish line. After a quick stop for fluids, he did. He got there in first place. I got a starry simplified flipped question mark on the windshield, which begs the question: What establishments do you know of, that would do a good job of replacing the windshield, so that in the future Ray may explore new territory?
:D

[whodilly]

Bravo! *sniff*

Ray is also exploring my car as well. except from the the south/west corner of the windshield, just beneath the wiper belt! Slowly but surely making his trek North to unchartered territory.

The final frontier...


FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-ZZ!!!!..... (replace the zz with ck if you aren\'t faint of heart)

Seriously, I would also like to know where to get the windshield replaced... for some reason there seems to be alot of stress placed on the windshield. I mean I know it\'s part of the car\'s structural integrity, but this crack started waaaayy to easy! You figure they design the glass to withstand somesort of impact without cracking. Sure I know it may chip but those can be easily fixed. A crack though comprimises the safety of the windshield. Shit I\'m a materials engineer, i should think of something and i\'ll be rich!

Anyways the ease at which the glass cracked means that it is already under stress from the rest of the car... contributing to a lower ability to absorb impacts from road projectiles (rocks, nails etc). This is because glass is a brittle material already and is unable to dissapate energy at a fast enough rate to prevent permenant damage (ie. crack). Therefore the engineers at mazda when designing the 3 did not take this into account and placed too much load onto the windshields of our car that it would not be able to withstand an impact from road debris.

You think i can bitch to mazda about this being a design flaw? haha new TSB guys!
so who do i contact

[SABIO]

Maybe you need a OMP Front Strut Bar to reduce any unwanted flex in the front of your chassis.:D It will increase the torsional rigidity by .13 quartons...or 21%. And it will increase the ohhhh and ahhhhh factor when the hood is open by 178%.

[TheProfessor]

Originally posted by SABIO


Maybe you need a OMP Front Strut Bar to reduce any unwanted flex in the front of your chassis.:D It will increase the torsional rigidity by .13 quartons...or 21%. And it will increase the ohhhh and ahhhhh factor when the hood is open by 178%.




LOL :D

[whodilly]

can you paint it orange for me? I know that you love to paint!

BTW if I really did want to paint it, would I have to remove the blue, and/or prime?

[bubba1983]

Originally posted by oscar


I was driving to work, from Kitchener to Toronto, on a beautiful Friday morning around 7am, about to pass what I thought was an inoffensive truck on the 401, when a rock sprung from one the boots of the aforementioned truck, and hit the windshield just left of center about two inches from the top. After hearing the crack, and spotting the radiant multi-ray star about 4 inches in diameter, I proceeded to yell the economic yet descriptive word F**K from the top of my lungs, but to my disbelief, the star was still there after the outburst. When I arrived at work, I could sense that one of the rays wanted to leave a bigger impression. A few hours later, I returned to the car to drive off for lunch, and noticed Ray had started to shine, about another inch due west. Ray aborted the reconnaissance mission for a few days, but when he sensed there was no danger to proceed, he resumed west-bound, at a slow but steady pace. About one week later, Ray made a subtle observation; he realized that making a gradual left turn would only slightly obstruct the vision of the opponent, so he traced a beautiful wide left turn. Rules of the road predict that after a turn there is a straight. Ray did not disappoint; he headed just right of south. At this point, Ray could see the border in the distance, and knew he could make a dash to the finish line. After a quick stop for fluids, he did. He got there in first place. I got a starry simplified flipped question mark on the windshield, which begs the question: What establishments do you know of, that would do a good job of replacing the windshield, so that in the future Ray may explore new territory?
:D

oooh, so i presume another tri-cities member???

[mazdamama]

Having been hit by a stone on the 401 myself, I feel your pain (for details see posting Weak Windshield). My windshield is still cracked straight across the passenger side and has not expanded in over a month so I am waiting to see what the first serious frost will do. From my posting I learned that the dealer will farm out the windshield to a glass company and am still waiting to hear from anyone in the west end who can recommend a specific glass replacement shop. I agree that the windshield cracks on the mazda3 seem to really spread fast. Good luck and let us know if you are happy with your new windshield when you get it done.

[bubba1983]

they won\'t be cheap, no $200 repair unfortunately..

[mazdamama]

Originally posted by bubba1983


they won\'t be cheap, no $200 repair unfortunately..

I am less concerned about the price than about getting the windshield properly installed. I saw a CBC expose show a few years ago that showed a few of the quick and cheap places improperly glued the windshield in so that it was a hazard. Either Standard or Speedy were one of the few companies that took the time to do the job right but unfortunately, I can\'t remember which company, only that they were way more expensive than the rest.

[ds2chan]

Originally posted by SABIO


Maybe you need a OMP Front Strut Bar to reduce any unwanted flex in the front of your chassis.:D It will increase the torsional rigidity by .13 quartons...or 21%. And it will increase the ohhhh and ahhhhh factor when the hood is open by 178%.




OMG!! HAHAHAHA.. I can\'t believe u posted that.. I couldn\'t even get past the first few words w/o laughing my ass off.. :D

[Saphress]

oooooooook...... sooo... I\'ve gotten numerous quotes. Here\'s the BEST deal I found

Auto Glass (I think they have more than one location)... But the one I think I may hook it up at is Vic Park and Lawrence

$560 after taxes for the original Mazda Windshield installed Lifetime warrenty

$250 + tax installed for an aftermarket... lifetime warrenty but not on the rain sensors

so.... if you really care about whether the risk that on a rainy day... you MIGHT actually hafta flip the switch,.... the original is what you want!

I was talkin to the guy Glenn... he was saying the supplier said he can\'t garauntee the warrenty on the rain sensors... but a lot of people have replaced it with him and have been quite happy...

[Saphress]

Alsooooooo...

Flash Auto Glass $540 + tax...

John

He actually does the replacements for 6 mazda dealerships... including Mazda of Toronto

[whodilly]

Thanks for posting up the shops... kinda lost the urge to shop around after I learned that I had to replace the windshield. Might as well use it for all its worth! I guess Friday is the day! bye bye $600!

[mazdamama]

Originally posted by whodilly


Thanks for posting up the shops... kinda lost the urge to shop around after I learned that I had to replace the windshield. Might as well use it for all its worth! I guess Friday is the day! bye bye $600!


Just wondering how the new windshield installation went and would you recommend them. Any complaints?